Drums, colloquially known as "bongo" drums come in various styles. Two in particular which are common are descendants of African drums known as ASHIKOS and DJEMBES. The wooden shells of these drums are similar in shape and size, but not exactly the same as, other drums manufactured by many other companies.
Traditional ASHIKOS and DJEMBES drums function by sketching an animal hide or skin over one end of the wooden shell. In many cases (but not all) a system, which is adjustable, is used to create tension on the skin. The common tightening systems were the Traditional African Weave (T.A.W.) and a mechanical nut and bolt system.
The wooden shells of the ASHIKOS and DJEMBES based drums include at least a tapered lower portion or some section or area narrower than the top. The T.A.W. system utilizes three steel rings of two different diameters or sizes. Two of the rings, including the smaller diameter ring and one of the larger diameter rings, have a plurality of double-hitches or knots with interconnecting rope sections peripherally around the rings and are commonly known as "roped rings". The other larger diameter ring is known as an "unroped ring". The smaller sized roped ring slides over the narrower end of the drum shell and is sized relative to the shell so as to stop about half way up the height of the shell due to the shell's taper. The skin is wedged down between the top two rings with the roped ring on top. A single length of rope is then vertically laced between the ropes of the two roped rings to stretch and tension the skin over the top of the drum shell. Tensioning of the skin is conventionally done by weaving the excess rope from the vertical lacing through the vertical lacing in such fashion as to create a twist in the vertical lacing. The twist causes the vertical lacing to place the skin under more tension and effectively provide for the tuning of the drum.
The tensioning of the skin by this weaving technique is time consuming and requires skills which are difficult to teach. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have some means to facilitate the tensioning of the skin which requires less time and less skill, and yet produces a fine product.